


It's Your Face I See in My Mirror

by lucidscreamer



Series: 100 Yu-Gi-Oh Prompts [25]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Atem is only there in Yugi's thoughts, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Ignores the movies, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:08:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22893019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucidscreamer/pseuds/lucidscreamer
Summary: With Atem, there had been a sense of belonging and acceptance, of knowing that there was one other who would always be there for him.And now that Atem was gone, Yugi missed him like a lost limb, complete with phantom pain.(Can be read as gen, if you don't have slash goggles on.)
Relationships: Atem/Mutou Yuugi
Series: 100 Yu-Gi-Oh Prompts [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1266368
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	It's Your Face I See in My Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. No ownership of the canon characters, settings, or events is claimed and none should be implied.
> 
> Prompt: 50. "I miss you..."

Once a week, Yugi grudgingly tackled the stacks of fan mail his grandpa left for him in the game-shop's stock room. 'Grudgingly' because most of those letters weren't actually meant for him. Oh sure, they were addressed to 'Yugi Mutou' but he knew who the fans thought they were writing to and it wasn't a socially awkward nerd who still cringed at the idea of 'fame' (however minor and/or poorly deserved it might be). Yugi barely even dueled these days, much less at world championship levels. And, really, all those letters were for _Atem_ , not Yugi. Even looking at them was an unwelcome reminder of all that he had lost when Atem left.

Not that Yugi begrudged the former Spirit of the Puzzle his chance to move on to the afterlife. If anyone deserved to rest in peace, it was Pharaoh Atem. After all that he had done, including giving his life (and as far as Atem had known any hope of an afterlife) in order to seal away the evil that was Zorc, sealing his own soul in the Puzzle, and then continuing to save the world (and Yugi) once he'd been freed from his golden prison... Well, there was no way that Yugi was going to stand in the way of Atem's departure, even if a selfish part of him had desperately wanted to.

And it wasn't as if Yugi was just... pining his life away or something. That would be ridiculous -- and an insult to all that Atem had done for him. No, Yugi had his friends and his family, he had school (with graduation inching closer by the day) and his part-time job at the game-shop. Nowadays he played Duel Monsters strictly for fun. No more 'fate of the world' battles for him! Yugi had a full life and he was, for the most part, content. If he sometimes startled at an unexpected glimpse of his own reflection from the corner of his eye, well... And no one had to know that he talked to mirrors, sometimes, squinting to narrow the eyes of his reflection and soften the knowledge that the image wouldn't talk back.

Having Atem around had meant that Yugi's life was filled with danger, strange magics, and Shadow Games. It had also meant excitement, adventure, and the sense that the world was filled with more possibilities than most people could ever imagine. Yugi had always had a good imagination and a belief in things outside the mundane, but not even he had dreamed of someone like Pharaoh Atem and all that came with knowing him. With Atem, there had been a sense of belonging and acceptance, of knowing that there was one other who would always be there for him.

And now that Atem was gone, Yugi missed him like a lost limb, complete with phantom pain. He knew it would be a pain he'd carry for the rest of his life, but he couldn't regret solving the Puzzle or having Atem as his partner. For now, he'd just have to keep talking to the face in the mirror and hoping that one day his soul would be reunited with its other half. 

And then they would rest together, safely _whole_.


End file.
